I really enjoyed Enemy at the Gates. I've never read anything by Solzhenitsy, his stuff looks and sounds daunting.
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Mystery of the Chinese Junk
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This has been a great read. I am in the middle of it.

"The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference"

"The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life," writes Malcolm Gladwell, "is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do." Although anyone familiar with the theory of memetics will recognize this concept, Gladwell's The Tipping Point has quite a few interesting twists on the subject.

For example, Paul Revere was able to galvanize the forces of resistance so effectively in part because he was what Gladwell calls a "Connector": he knew just about everybody, particularly the revolutionary leaders in each of the towns that he rode through. But Revere "wasn't just the man with the biggest Rolodex in colonial Boston," he was also a "Maven" who gathered extensive information about the British. He knew what was going on and he knew exactly whom to tell. The phenomenon continues to this day--think of how often you've received information in an e-mail message that had been forwarded at least half a dozen times before reaching you.

Gladwell develops these and other concepts (such as the "stickiness" of ideas or the effect of population size on information dispersal) through simple, clear explanations and entertainingly illustrative anecdotes, such as comparing the pedagogical methods of Sesame Street and Blue's Clues, or explaining why it would be even easier to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with the actor Rod Steiger. Although some readers may find the transitional passages between chapters hold their hands a little too tightly, and Gladwell's closing invocation of the possibilities of social engineering sketchy, even chilling, The Tipping Point is one of the most effective books on science for a general audience in ages. It seems inevitable that "tipping point," like "future shock" or "chaos theory," will soon become one of those ideas that everybody knows--or at least knows by name. --Ron Hogan
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I borrowed that from one of my chums, he has the keenest jalopy.
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I'm a big fan of Barbara Kingsolver...but I think women probably appreciate her work more than men. The best I've read by her so far...The Poisonwood Bible
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Im reading Lifes Golden Ticket by Brendon Bruchard, and Mavericks at Work by the COfounders of Fast Company.

Tipping Point, Zach, is a great book, finished that not long ago.
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I tried Turtledove's "Guns of the South" based on a friends recommendation. Couldn't really take the plot seriously (time machine and all) but you're right, he really did his research and the attention to character detail is excellent.

I just started Jeff Sharra's "The Rising Tide." It's the first part in a trilogy about WWII. I read "Gods and Generals" a few years ago and thought that the author was nowhere near as talented as his father, but so far "Tide" is pretty decent.

I wish John Keegan would crank out a few more books before he dies. He's the gold standard for military history.
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getting set to get into "Growing a Church- Seven Apostolic Principles" by David K. Bernard
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Something to do with cheap Chinese toys and lead paint?
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The Idiot by Dostoevsky. I liked Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov so well I figured I may just read all of his books.
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I've booked wallpaper
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I absolutely love her. It's one of the few places where my and my wife's literary tastes intersect. The Poisonwood Bible definitely appeals to my ambitious fiction tastes in that's it's a BIG work with lots of ideas and lots of nerve driving it. That being said, I think the Prodigal Summer is probably my favorite work of hers. It just spoke to me like crazy.

My wife finished her memoir about eating locally a while back, but I haven't picked it up yet.
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The "Eye Witness Travel Guide to Great Britain".

Its packed with useful information, not just on where to go & what to see, but it also has all kinds of great historical info. I plan to go see Britain & Scotland one day & this book will be very useful.
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The Executioner's Song ... again. Good ole' Norm was out of the limelight until his recent demise.
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On a recent trip I picked up a bunch of books, including:

Searching for Yellowstone by Paul Schullery. Some good National Park Service history along with a lot of interesting wildlife management stories and history is packed in the book.

I also got a collection of John Muir's writings. I have read almost all of the essay's and stories from other sources. I can't help but rereading them in this sweet book. I found it in an interesting little book shop in West Yellowstone. Very cool IMO.
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